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Thursday, May 30, 2013

Milestones

Last Saturday was four years of blogging for me. I just posted my 50th silhouette post. I even managed to reach Pundit level. But there is another milestone coming up. This post is my 973rd. That means, at a rate of a post about every other day, I'll be at 1000 in 2 months.

I know there are folks that have more posts than that or have been around for longer, but for me and my personality it feels like a big achievement.

I've had an idea for a while now that I would make some sort of publication on my 1000th post. I figured I would let you know rather than just spring it out of nowhere (though I hate even announcing it because I can feel the fear welling up inside and the desire to procrastinate this off to some other unspecified time).

I love the blogs as an ongoing conversation and don't like the idea that to be a part of our hobby seriously you have to publish something. That being said, there is a time for looking over all the conversations you've had and trying to build something from the whole. A second level of making. And with 1000 posts I think there should be plenty of meat here to make something larger than a sum of the separate posts that make it up. So, that's what I'm aiming for.

The idea is a book to help DMs get a game going on a Friday night. Tools basically. And probably aimed more at the newer DM (experienced folks have probably already crafted similar tools out of necessity). My current plan is to put it up on Lulu as a free download and a hardcover at cost. Maybe someday I can revise this and get some awesome art and charge for it, but for now I just want to get a solid draft out the door.

There are still a few tools I don't have worked out yet. I hope to address them in the coming months. But whatever the results, I'm putting a book out on the 1000th post. No excuses. I suppose I might start trying to dodge the bullet by delaying posting, but I have to get this done by mid August because that is when my work ramps up again and I'll be out of time.

I feel odd to announce this when everyone is talking about Jack Vance's passing, but what better way to commemorate him, and Harryhausen, by making something fantastic?

Andrew that's so nice. I'm still up in the air if just making in all no-art will help me get it out the door or not. Do you have a blog with your art, because bouncing ideas of an artist could be cool too.

Telecanter: Sorry, didn't check in for a few days. I can be reached at k a p r o u at hotmail dawt com. I am at fictivefantasies, and you can also see my deviant art account here.

http://kaprou.deviantart.com/gallery/

Your point about art is well taken. I am trying to get "Crumbling Epoch" together to get to the copyeditor and back in time for a July 4 release (my blog's second anniversary.) Trying to have a minimum of 1 illustration per 4 pages is grueling, but I think it will pay off.

Even if you don't go with interior art, a cover could be nice. But dude; use silhouettes for interior art! If you have something visual every 2 page spread, or at least one every 4 pages, it helps navigate quickly and soothes the modern mind's need for pictures with the text.

I think you have access to a supply of silhouettes or something, right? =)

Thanks folks! I actually had mocked up a cover using silhouettes before this post ; ) It's very minimalistic, but that was kind of the point-- to give you a sense that this is trying to be just tools, nothing fancy.

And a lot of my one-page charts have silhouette icons built in to try and help navigation between the many look-alike charts. But I like the idea of little vignettes made up of the things too. I guess it depends on how much text I'll have and what the layout looks like.

I was also contemplating making the cover a tool of some sort, like Vornheim, but I won't have a dust jacket so I'm not sure if that is possible.

I am working on the graphics for Crumbling Epoch right now. The front cover will be a front cover with picture etc. The back cover will be the reference page, all the rules you need at your fingertips. Players and DMs alike can flip the book over and get 90% of what they need from the back of the book, speeding play.

I did this for several previous projects. It is very empowering to slap the rule book face down on the table and be ready to run fights and such.